To Pressure Pak, India’s Reaction to Uri Must Be Sober, Not Shrill

The nation
is rightly outraged at this morning’s Uri Brigade Headquarters terrorist attack
in which, so far, seventeen soldiers have been martyred and many others
critically injured. While the identity of the four terrorist perpetrators, who
have all been killed, has not been established as yet, there is no doubt that they
came from across the border.

The timing
of the attack makes it amply clear that it is the work of the official Pakistani agencies, and is designed to coincide with the beginning of the 71st
session of the United Nations General Assembly. It is meant to attract
international attention to the situation in the Kashmir valley while avoiding the opprobrium over civilians being killed.

World
leaders gather at the start of each session in New York; Pakistan Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif is leading his country’s delegation and has reached the
city. Pakistan has already announced that he will raise the Kashmir situation
at the UN, and also in his bilateral interactions with his international peers.

Through this attack, Pakistan hopes that he will taken more seriously when he
calls on the UN to intervene in Kashmir, both to address what Pakistan claims
are human rights violations as well as the dangerous situation that is
developing there between India and Pakistan.

An Indian army helicopter flies above the army base that was attacked in the town of Uri, west of Srinagar. (Photo: AP)

Uri Attack is Pakistan’s Follow-Up on Burhan Wani Protests

The fact is
that in the ten weeks since the Hizb-e-Mujahidden terrorist Burhan Wani’s
killing, Pakistan has tried its best to project the protests as a spontaneous
intifada undertaken by stone-pelting youth who are calling for freedom from
India. Its propaganda machine is pushing the idea that the protests are
peaceful in nature but that India is responding with brute force.

Nawaz Sharif has
written to the UN and world leaders, sent out political envoys to major
capitals, and even dedicated this year’s Eid-e-Zuha to the Kashmiris to
highlight the so-called Kashmir cause. However,all this has not even remotely evoked
the response that Pakistan had hoped for.

The international community recognises the realities of the Kashmir problem and its inextricable linkage with Pakistani-instigated terrorism.

It also knows that
the Indian security forces have essentially responded with restraint to control
stone-pelting crowds. The failure to move international opinion has been
acknowledged by Pakistani analysts, including diplomats and commentators.

In a recent
column in a respected Pakistani daily, Ashraf Jahangir Qazi, who has served as
Pakistan’ s High Commissioner in Delhi lamented Pakistan’s failed India policy. Specifically, he noted, “There are
hardly any international takers today for Pakistan’s case on Kashmir”. He also
underlined the international community’s “indifference” to the human rights
situation in the valley.

This marks a severe indictment of Pakistani efforts
led by Nawaz Sharif himself in internationalising the Kashmir situation. One
respected Pakistani journalist went to the extent of advising the Kashmiris in
a recent article in an Indian daily not to raise the Pakistani flag for, “The
world simply looks away when a reference to Pakistan crops up”.

Will Pakistan’s Uri Gambit Succeed?

Will the international community now begin to pay greater attention to the Kashmir situation and be more responsive to Nawaz Sharif’s call for a scrutiny of India’s human rights record and the right of self-determination in Kashmir?

It is unlikely that any major power will seek to alienate India on this issue, though some may call for an India-Pakistan dialogue to reduce the temperature of the relationship. However, this is the time for smart Indian diplomacy, especially over the next few weeks.

This does not imply that India should not show firmness in its dealings with Pakistan in the wake of the attack. There is no contradiction between a firm resolve to safeguard India’s security interests, not merely restricted to words, and the practice of smart diplomacy.

The latter means that Indian official responses need to be, among other diplomatic steps, measured and sober, not shrill and heavy on rhetoric. That will put the pressure on Pakistan.

PM Modi Has Put His Credibility on the Line

In this
perspective, the Prime Minister’s comment, “I assure the nation that those
behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished” is very significant. It
is a statement of intent that India will act deliberately at a place and time
of its choosing. Modi has put his credibility on the line for no other Indian
Prime Minister has been so explicit. The international community will take note
and countries such as the US may counsel India to be restrained and at the same
time put the onus on Pakistan to rein in the terrorists.

One last
thought: the Indian army has acted in Kashmir with dedication and valour in
difficult circumstances. They have earned the nation’s gratitude for their
sacrifices and the soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in Uri did so in
the tradition of the army.

However, a question has to be asked of the army
leadership: how did the terrorists enter the camp? Was there laxity on
someone’s part? Answers will have to be given to the people.

(The writer is a former Secretary [West], Ministry of External Affairs.)